Strange thing happened the other day. I picked up one of my novels that I hadn’t touched since it came out in paperback. For some reason, I had a yearning to visit the words and lines again. It was like there was something missing and for some weird reason, I just wanted to re-read the story. I know, after proofing and editing the thing three dozen times, you’d think I’d never go near it again, but as I got about a quarter way through, that empty feeling started to diminish. Then it hit me. I actually missed the characters. It was if I had been away from best friends and missed the comfort they brought me whenever they were around.
Yeah, I know, very particular, but in my head the characters exist; they’re not just fictional images I conjured up in my head, they are flesh and blood, and I miss them.
I wonder if other authors ever sense that absence of the friends that came to life in their stories and go back to revisit the words and lines again. Nah, probably just the weirdo big guy (g).
Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)
Author of the year, 2008
Hi Mike; I often go back to various Nova Scotia settings I've used, and I love the thrill of renewing acquaintenaces with the characters that lived and loved there in my novels. You aren't peculiar; you are an author feeling the depth of your writing. Carol McPhee
ReplyDeleteNot so weird, Mike. I love my characters. Heck, I wish I could meet some of them for coffee. A few I even like better than some of my friend ;) (Just kidding.) My characters are blogging about their year and New Year's wishes right now over on my blog. Send your characters over.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lindarettstatt-author.blogspot.com
Have a Happy New Year.
Linda Rettstatt
It's hard to explain or convey to non writers how damn real your characters are to you, how they actually exist and live inside our brain. Maybe that's what keeps us writing. Sure ain't the money.
ReplyDeleteMichael Davis (Davisstories.com)
Author of the year, 2008